Wallowing in the game today is a needless excuse in being morose. The Mariners lost. So what, really? It sucks that they lost so badly and that practically everyone involved had a game that was discouraging, but it's one game. There are more to come and then more after that, in the long run. The long run is what we should probably focus on since the short run is futile and the long run has not yet become futile. Hail, uncertainty!

To that desire, we are now in the month of September and the rosters have expanded. We have seen the likelihood of all the call-ups we will see except for the re-activation of Chone Figgins, but even then, I wonder how much playing time he will receive. Jeff and I discussed the topic at length, in spurts, on the most recent podcast, but here's a venue for you to sound off. What are you watching for (if you're watching at all) this month? What reasonable monthly trends would you make the most encouraged heading into the winter offseason?

Obviously, we want to see the Mariners gel and rip apart all comers in a scene reminiscent of Gulliver and the people of Lilliput, but that's not realistic. The interesting part is in the ordinal ranking of preferences. If you had to choose, would you rather see a good month out of Dustin Ackley or Justin Smoak? Or Kyle Seager? Maybe Ichiro. Do it in list form if you'd like. Top ten players, in order, that you would like to see have good months in September.